HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wanted to wish all of you a Happy New Year and hope your holidays have been merry!

I have been a blog slug lately. In fact, I have been a slug at home too. I think the vacation that the boys and my hubby were on transferred to all my duties too. I have been a couch potato up until today. I have not done any scrapping or card making, so I don't have anything new to show you. I thought I would start the new year off with some BLOG CANDY! I found a Cuttlebug embossing plate that is hard to find, so I wanted to give that away with some extras I have in my stash before my CTMH consultant days.

For a chance to win just tell me your favorite stamp set and color combo. I will randomly draw a winner on Friday, January 4th.


HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Girls Night Out

I am so glad I finished the Girls Night Out theme created by Tiffany Cheney last weekend. I wanted to show it to you before we left for Christmas vacation. Of course, I made slight changes to her designs, but I am sure she wouldn't mind. This is the last post you will see from me until after Christmas. We are traveling out of town to my parents and won't be home until Christmas eve. Just in time for Santa to visit us! My boys are so excited about Christmas this year.

One of my club members, Sandy, has chosen this theme for her party in January. We will be making the gift bag and gift tag. I am sure her guests will like it, and will be able to give it to a special friend.

I used the following products with these designs:

Paper - black, hollyhock, white daisy, baby pink
Ink - blush, baby pink, hollyhock, white daisy, key lime
Stamp sets - Playful Flourishes, It's A Party, Playful Flourishes
Accessories - bling, baby pink grosgrain ribbon, baby pink sassy strands





Merry Christmas!

Technique Tuesday - Liquid Glass (outline image)

I started working on another display board last weekend. It will be "Add Class with Liquid Glass". It is another suggestion for a technique party that corporate gave us at convention. This is the first technique I played with using liquid glass for this display. I stamp an image in the bottom left corner and covered it with liquid glass. Of course, I made the card first and completed the technique last to set it aside to dry.

This display board will feature the Let's Get Together paper pack, so these are the colors I used: cranberry, buttercup and breeze. I added a little bling to the flower. Bling always makes projects look better.


Now, it's your turn!

Hey Lisa, I didn't know how to contact you regarding your question about Winter Snapshots, so I am answering you here. I don't have Winter Snapshots available to purchase. I just sold it last month.

I am getting together some of my other retired sets I don't use anymore and will post them on my blog to sell, so keep watching.

Happy Stamping!

Display Boards

I showed you the distressing artwork individually for my "Paper Distressing Endless Possibilities" display board. I wanted to show you the finished product.

This is one of the parties a hostess can choose when hostessing a party. I would show her guests how to distress paper in the nine ways shown on the board. The hostess would pick one project for her guests to create, so they could make something using one of the techniques.

First Display Board
Second Display Board

The next theme I will be working on is Girls Night Out!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

FUN in the SUN

It has been so cold here that I decided to play with a summer theme stamp set.

This is the latest theme party I finished last night. The design was created by Jena DeVries, Independent CTMH Consultant. She used different pattern paper and I changed the designs slightly to work for me. Jena designed a great summer theme party.

Products used:

Paper - Laid Back Level 2, Dutch Blue, Vineyard Berry, Sunflower, White Daisy
Ink - Dutch Blue, Sunflower, Vineyard Berry
Stamp sets - Do Nothing, Boutique Alphabet, The Works Alphabet
Accessories - Sparkles (bling), Black grosgrain ribbon, White Daisy photo clips, Buttercup organdy ribbon, Sunflower sassy strands, Coluzzle tag, Black brads




I borrowed my good friend, Debbie's stamp set to make this....THANKS, Debbie!

Take time to create something!

Happy Birthday to U

Last week, I found myself out of masculine birthday cards, when my husband needed one for a friend. I decided to make a simple one, so I could mass produce it. I ended up with 16 of these in various colors. I am ready for any birthday now!

My inspiration came from Chris Shouse who gave me a thank you card with this design and paper paper. Thanks, Chris!


I started working on my Fun in the Sun theme last night. Hopefully, I will have some things to show you. My boys had a snow day from school today, so I didn't get much stamping done. We had to play outside in the fresh powder. We were supposed to get ice like the south did, but it never hit us.

Happy Stamping!

Technique Tuesday - Rolled Edges

This is a 3 x 3 card I made for my distressing display to feature the rolled edge technique. Here is what I do to get these edges:

Rolled Edges

• The first thing I do is distress the edge a little with my edge distresser tool.
• Then I moisten the edge with a little water.
• Take a pencil or cylinder type tool and roll the edge of the paper around it. You can roll as much of the edge as you like. For this little card, I was very careful and used my paper piecer to roll the edge. I wanted just a little bit of the paper rolled.
  

I used the Caprice pattern paper, honey cardstock, crystal blue and chocolate ink, chocolate organdy ribbon, For Every Occasion stamp set and a dimensional ribbon slide.

Now, it is your turn!

Thanks for stopping by!

SMILE with pics

Hello! I decided to show you the SMILE layout with pictures. I think layouts always look better with personality. Besides the pictures, I added ribbon to the second page photo hanger.

SMILE

Here it is...the layout Chris and I worked on two days ago, when I stamped at her house. It is an Imagine layout and we used the new Serendipity promotion packet. I love it! We complimented the Serendipity paper and punch outs with Rustic Alphabet and pewter hardware. Don't ya just love the spiral and bigger brad together? Of course, I do! Hope you like it.



Flower close-ups:

I didn't have time to print pictures, because I have a brand new picture editing program and I am still trying to figure it out. I like the new whistles and bells, but that means it is more complicated than my out of date program.


Happy Stamping!

Serendipity cards

In January, CTMH is having a spectacular promotion offering a paper pack, three sheets of punch out art and a stamp set for just $10 when you spend $60. Just think of everything you get for $10. I went over to Chris' house today to stamp and she had the cutest projects for me to work. Oh, she is my upline in my CTMH world. Here is a sneak peak of a couple of cards we made with the new Serendipity products:

The only stamp set used on this card that is not included in the Serendipity promotion is the Thanks for Everything sentiment. The background on this card was made completely with some of the stamps on this "D" sized stamp set (value $22.95). The flower is made from the cut-outs. There are three sheets of cut-outs...dutch blue, chocolate and bamboo. The glassy look in the middle of the flower are the circle window charms that are new this year.


I love the pattern paper in this pack. I know, I know...I love a lot of stamping supplies. Well, if you know me well, you know my favorite color combo is blue, brown and orange. Well, here are two of the three. Yipee! The scalloped stamp is great, because there are time when I will punch out the holes in the scallops. I think that will look awesome!


Tomorrow, I have a two-page layout we created with Serendipity. It looks so gooood! Tune in tomorrow!

Happy Stamping!

"It's A Party" complete theme

First, I can't believe I forgot to post last night. I had a Christmas themed party last night and was concentrating on getting ready for it during the day. During the party, I remembered I needed to post and when it was over....I forgot. I had so much fun at the party it was wiped from my mind. I just love sharing CTMH and what I do with others.

Here is the rest of the It's A Party theme. Remember that Tiffany Cheney designed the layout, card and gift bag. I just designed the gift tag for another option for hostesses. This theme was ideally for a "It's a Chocolate Party". I just took Chocolate out of the saying. I think it would be a great idea to host a chocolate party and make one of these great projects. The hostess could serve all chocolate goodies. How fun?! I hope a hostess does choose this one, since I can't say no to chocolate. LOL!






Anitalee, I am sorry, but I don't make these as two-page spreads. It would take too much time at a party to make both pages.

The hostess chooses one of these for her guests to make:

• layout
• card and gift tag
• gift bag and gift tag

At last night's party, we made the Vintage Christmas card and gift tag. To see those again, click here.

Oh, Technique Tuesday will resume next week. I don't think I will forgot two weeks in a row.

Happy Stamping!

It's A Party

Here is a layout for another themed party I am working on for hostesses. Tiffany Cheney designed this one too! I used the It's A Party stamp set and the following colors: chocolate, crystal blue and sweet leaf. I really like how the pattern background turned out from random stamping images from this stamp set. The different colored rings were one stamp set. The great thing about acrylix is that you can cut them apart. I used my xacto knife and slowly and carefully cut the two inner rings out, so I could stamp them a different color. YEAH!


I will have the rest of this theme done to show you next week!

Have a great weekend and find time to create!

Beloved Blossoms Thanks

The stamp set I used as the main image on this card was not a favorite in the 2007 Spring CMTH Idea Book; however, I really liked it. I am hoping that you see how it goes with the Caprice paper pack beautifully. I have had a lot of fun using the same paper pack and different techniques to make a few cards with multiple themes. It shows how versatile one Level 2 CTMH paper pack is to use in both layouts and cards.

This is another 6 x 6 card. I used solo "t" for the thanks sentiment and obviously for the solo letter. This was a 9 x 9 layout from CTMH corporate that I adapted to make a card. As you can see I am into using twill ribbon lately and photo hangers. Hope you enjoy this one too! I am going to feature this technique on the next Technique Tuesday and show you a card made with the same dimensions and theme, but different paper and main image. Stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

With Sincere Sympathy...

When I talk to people about making cards, they say they never have sympathy cards when they need them. I chose to make a sympathy card for my paper distressing display, because of this. I wanted to give them an option for this type of card. I used the dry embossing technique to distress the chocolate paper. I covered the dimensional element slide with pattern paper from the Caprice paper pack. To add more texture, I added natural hemp to the slide and a Just Blooms sunflower with brads to the bottom right side. Hope you like it!



Oh, I forgot to mention on yesterday's card that I put waxy flax through the buttons on the sunflowers. I love waxy flax and would not use buttons without it. Thanks for mentioning that in your comments Jeanne!

Happy Stamping!

Technique Tuesday - Edge Distressing

This is one of the techniques I am dispalying on the Paper Distressing Endless Possibilities boards I am working on for another gathering choice next year. Distressing the edges of paper is popular and makes cards and layouts look so rustic. I took this 6 x 6 card idea from a 9 x 9 layout corporate created. I used the Caprice Paper pack and It's A Party stamp set. The colors used honey, crystal blue and chocolate.

Edge Distressing

• Hold your piece of cardstock in one hand and the edge distresser in the other.
• Run the edge distresser up and down the edge of your cardstock until you get the desired look.
• In addition, you can use your scissors instead of your edge distresser. I prefer the edge distresser, so I don't cut the paper.

As you can see the three pieces of cardstock have been distressed. I used the new CTMH edge distresser, which is only $1.50. It is totally worth it! After distressing the piece of colonial cardstock, I ran it over my chocolate ink pad. I finished the card off with sunflower just bloom flowers with buttons and crystal blue organdy ribbon.

Now, it is your turn!

Happy Stamping!

Direct to Paper

Good news for me! I can leave the Caprice projects I posted last time on my display board. My upline, Chris, came through for me. She has a bulk Caprice paper packet that I can buy. YEAH! Since I found that out today, I used the same Caprice paper for this card. BTW, these Caprice paper designs are not mine. These projects were designed by corporate. I am using them for the same type of display board idea I got from the CTMH convention I attended. Boy, I am so glad I went there. My head is still full of ideas waiting to get out!

I like this card, because it doesn't have a sentiment. It can be used for any occasion you need. This card shows the ink direct to paper technique, which is always an easy way to distress paper.


The accessories are twill ribbon, natural hemp and a metal-rimmed tag. I just used a one inch punch to punch out a flower from the pattern paper to adhere to the rimmed tag.

Boy, I didn't get much stamping done today. Both my boys and DH were home and we just relaxed all day. I guess we started the holiday a little early. It did snow today and my boys were so excited to get out to play. We didn't even get an inch, but my DH had to play, because I had to go to the grocery store along with most of the people in Omaha. It is the only time I was glad to go to the grocery store.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Caprice Thanks

I made this card for a technique board I am making to display different paper distressing techniques. This shows paper tearing. Now, I have to use a different paper packet, so it will be sent to someone instead of being displayed. I liked how the card turned out with the Indian Corn Blue cardstock base. This is a new paper pack from the CTMH fall/winter idea book. It looks much better IRL, especially when used with the blue paper. The "T" is from the new Homestead Alpha "E" sized set. Hope you like it!

Here is a double page layout that I had posted on the same display board. I am working on replacements with the Free Spirit paper pack.

Page one shows the sanding technique and direct to paper technique.


Page two shows the distressing with black stubble tool and cocoa ink and direct to paper ink technqiue.


On my last post, I forgot to include the stamp set I used, which was Little Girls. I was in a hurry to go to bed early and forgot to write that. Sorry! My wonderful DH put the boys to bed, so I could go to sleep early and I got to sleep at 8 p.m. YEAH! I felt so refreshed in the morning. I think I was a little too peppie for everyone in the morning. I kept singing and dancing around. I had a reason...our wedding anniversary was Tuesday, November 20th (8 years).

I hope to post Wednesday night for Thursday, but I don't think I will have anything for Thursday night.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Technique Tuesday - Chalk Popping

I thought I showed you chalk popping already and I was going to show it to you again. When I reviewed my the techniques, it didn't pop up (no pun intended). I really like this one and you have seen it on the boy theme...Boys Rule. I have been working on my themed layouts and created a girl theme. My good friend, Jeanne wanted to see one, so I took the Boys Rule layout and used girl colors and a girl stamp set. Here are the instructions for chalk popping and the themed projects:

Chalk Popping

1. Ink up your stamp with Versamark
2. Stamp your image on your page
3. Rub chalk over the image with a cottonball
4. You can use many different colors or just one

I hope you like my Cutie Pie theme. This one will be offered when the boy theme is offered, and the guests will get to pick which one they want to create.




Now, it is your turn!

Happy Stamping!

Vintage Christmas theme

Here is one of the other themes I wrote about yesterday. This card and tag will be created at a gathering I have on December 3rd. I did not design the card. My upline, Chris Shouse, sent this out last year, and I used it as my inspiration for this theme. My stamp sets are Vintage Christmas and Victorian Snowflake. Oops! I think I called this Vintage Snowflake yesterday. Well, it is the one I said is a must, so make sure you scratch off Vintage Snowflake on your wish list and replace it with Victorian Snowflake...hee hee! Sorry!

Hope you like this theme! I still would like to hear more ideas for themes. Jeanne reminded me of little girls. I forgot to say I am going to make a princess layout, but I have to order the stamp set. I haven't had a need for little girl stamp sets until now.





Have a great weekend!

Little Boy Theme Party

Here is one of the new projects I am starting next year...themed parties. This is one of the suggestions I took home from convention. I am going to offer hostesses a choice of a themed party. They will pick a theme and then choose what they want their guests to make from one of the following:

• A 12 x 12 layout or
  
• A card and gift tag or
  
• A gift bag and gift tag

This is the first one I made. I got this design from Tiffany Cheney, a very talented Independent CTMH consultant. She had this layout, gift bag and card listed on our consultant bulletin board. I just added the gift tag to match the collection. I printed her pictures and made a set for examples to show my hostesses. I hope they like them. The layout features chalk popping. The main stamp set featured is Little Boys.



I would love to hear from you about any ideas you have for themed parties. Please leave your suggestions in the comments. Here are others I am working on:

• Vintage Christmas
• Outdoors/Camping
• Easter
• Birthday
• Girls Night Out
• 4th of July
• School Days

Thanks for stopping by!

Holiday Album

Holy Moly! I almost forgot to post tonight. I was taking some online CTMH classes and was shutting down my computer, when I remembered I hadn't shown you the awesome 9 x 9 holiday album we created at convention. I have been saving this for last, because I think it is so cool and it was easy and fun to make.

We used the Everlasting paper pack, which has become one of my favorites and Holiday Joy and Victorian Snowflakes stamp sets. Oh, the bling adds just the right touch. This is the first time I got to use the new lowercase chipboard alphabet too! It is all soooo good! Life is good! I didn't put pictures on mine yet, because I might wait for this years. Enjoy this eye candy!

Here is the front cover! We inked the chipboard letters on the front and back cover with a sponge and cranberry ink. You should see this in person...it is even better in real life!


First and second page after the cover! Look at all that bling! This snowflake runner is so easy to make it look seamless. I really, really, really suggest this stamp set (Victorian Snowflake), if you haven't purchased it already.


These are the last two pages. Those stockings are so stinkin' cute! We were able to bend the flourishes to make them look like photo corners, because the stamp sets are acrylix.


Last but not least the back cover! We finished the wish with a little bling and ribbon. Wow! I can't wait to get my pictures on this to display for the holidays.


Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stamping!

Technique Tuesday - Masking

Masking is a great way to layer stamps. I used this technique on this A Season of Gratitude card. I layered two of the leaves. The only extra supply you will need is a sticky note. Here are the directions:

Masking

• Stamp the image you want to be in the foreground of your layers.
• Stamp this same image on a sticky note. Make sure you stamp the image at the top of the paper, so the sticky part has some of the image on it.
• Cut out the image on the sticky note.
• Put the sticky note image on the stamped image on your card or layout. Ink up the other image and stamp part of it on top of the sticky note image.
  
• The sticky note will protect your image underneath and when you lift it off the paper it will reveal a layered look.
• Reuse the sticky note image as many times as needed until it does not stick anymore. You can keep this mask with your stamp set for the next time you want to mask.

Now, it is your turn!

Happy Stamping!

NO STAMPING

This layout was completed entirely without any stamping. Oh My! I actually did it! I can't believe I finished a layout with no stamps. I am so happy to know it can be done. Or at least I can do it with the help of my new little friend....My Stickease!

Here is the layout we made with the Free Spirit pack that is supposed to be for boys. YEAH! Finally, more boy "stuff". I can never find enough paper and embellishments for my boy scrapbooking stash.

We played with the creative clips that were new to the CTMH collection this year. I hadn't used them yet and was happy to see you don't have to do a lot to dress them up, if you don't want to. We used the My Stickease on the tops of both clips and slip them under the picture mat. Can you believe it? I didn't add anything to this page, once I got home.


I can't say that about the second page; however, all I added were the arrows and the "Look Out!" that are both from the level 2 My Stickease pack. I have to get more My Stickease.


Oh, you will have to wait until next week for the rest. I didn't realize Friday was here already!

Have a great weekend and take time to stamp!